Friday, 12 September 2008

You can chat with Barbara via bardytucker (that's not a typo) at hotmail.com. I don't think she's on facebook. (If she were, you could really chat).

At Dickson last night there were 14 of us who ran Ewen 300s. With variations, it was teams of two, we were in lane 3 so the intervals were >310m, and we tended to shuffle rather than walk back the 100m in between, and then we waited for the baton. But we did do ten of them each, Ewen. I put the change-over points mid-straight and mid-bend so that everyone would have half straight and half bend to race on. Training were Al & Joel, Thea & I, Bronwyn & Tony, Rachelle & Neil, Miranda & Yelena, Jodie D & Caroline, Ruth & Margaret. In that order if I remember rightly. (Thea & I nearly took it out! The gosling and the old grey goose!) It was a good session. And we had the new lights fully on; it was as bright as day!

Moore Moores - Nathan & Lisa with Charlie

click to enlarge. Tomorrow - Falconer grandchildren!

I meant to publish this earlier...A West Australian research team says it has proved for the first time that 20 minutes of activity each day can improve memory function.The team from the West Australian Centre for Health and Ageing carried out an 18 month trial using two control groups with an average age in the late 60s.One group did on average twenty minutes more physical activity a day, mainly vigorous walking, and it was this group that performed better on tests for memory and other cognitive functioning. The Director for the WA Centre for Health and Ageing, Leon Flicker, says the increase was small but significant."The improvement in memory functioning was a little over a point on one of the scales that we use," he said."To put it in perspective, this is actually more than the effect of some of the drugs that have been trialed in the past which, overall, have been found to be ineffective."Professor Flicker says the people who took part had some memory complaints but none were suffering from dementia.He says more research needs to be done and this will look at what sort of exercise is best and whether it can help those suffering from dementia."What we've shown is that a moderate increase in physical activity produces a moderate increase in the brain's functioning, but whether a lot more activity would continue to have even greater effect, we really can't say at this stage," he said.The trial results will be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today.- from ABC News, 3 Sept 2008.

My quads were sore all week after the 50m sprints on Monday night. A bit silly asking the old pegs to do something they aren't trained for. Maybe next time it'll be easier - or I might bail out at 15, rather than 20 :)